April
09
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Desertification by Donalyn Miller
Our oldest granddaughter, Emma, is eight. She looks just like her mother did at the same age. Long limbs accessorized with a rotation of Band-Aids that move from one knee to the next. Wind-blown dark blonde hair that needs brushing. Piercing blue eyes that have already mastered the skeptical shade throw passed down through generations of women in my family.
Emma and I have lots in common. We would rather be outside collecting pinecones and interesting rocks than sitting indoors. We can watch woodpeckers drill holes in a tree for an hour, but struggle with ten minutes of polite chitchat. We prefer activities that have something to show for our work when we’re done—baking cookies, planting flower beds, making microscope slides from the dogs’ water bowl contents, writing stories. We have played a thousand games of Uno. The scratch paper in my purse is covered with Hangman games between us. Emma will whisper ask Aunt Sarah to spell difficult words like “veterinarian,” because she wants to trick me with a hard one. I notice she relies on spelling assists less and less these days.
Emma loves to read in the easy way kids who grow up around books do. She always has a book going. She reads with her baby brother and little sister. She digs through our books when she visits—picking some for us to read now and setting aside hold stacks I find around the house after she goes home. She collects Franny K. Stein and Who Was? biographies. She writes Bad Kitty fan fiction. Books fit into her life like bread and popsicles—everyday magic—special, but not miraculous or rare. Reader and writer are just two parts of her evolving identity.
While Emma likes exploring and making and reading, she doesn’t enjoy school. Too much sitting. Too many worksheets. Too much yelling. She would rather conduct science experiments in our kitchen than complete another water cycle graphic organizer. I have stopped asking her much about school because it upsets us both. Curious about what books her third grade teacher is reading aloud to her class, Emma told me, “She never reads to us, Mimi. She doesn’t have time.” Kids sit on the curb at recess if they forget their signed reading logs. Emma gets some free time to read her library book every day, but no one talks to her about what she’s reading or ensures she’s growing as a reader. Most of what Emma reads at school or completes for reading homework is test prep—an avalanche of test passages and comprehension questions meant to identify her reading skill deficits while ignoring her reading life completely.
Recently, Emma told us she was scared about upcoming state tests because “if she doesn’t pass them, she will be held back in third grade” and have to go to summer school. I asked her why she thought this, and she said her teacher tells the kids all of the time. Emma’s mom and dad go to parent nights and teacher conferences. They have talked to the school principal and Emma’s teachers until they are weary, but it doesn’t make any difference. Last week, on another day of benchmark testing (their seventh this year), Emma cried and shook all the way to school.
Emma’s experience isn’t unique. It saddens and angers me that too many schools value reading only as much as it raises children’s reading test scores. Our tax dollars purchase computer-based reading programs and mountains of test prep workbooks, but there’s little research evidence these materials improve children’s reading abilities. We cut librarians and book budgets because there’s not enough money, while spending a fortune on summer school programs that don’t remediate children’s reading difficulties long term. We have decades of research proving that access to books, student choice, and degreed school librarians all positively influence children’s reading motivation, engagement, AND test scores, but we ignore this research in favor of whatever program we can buy that has the best test prep assessments and fanciest data-reporting spreadsheets.
While education reformers blame teachers and administrators for the middle-of-the pack rankings of American schoolchildren on international comparisons, they fail to address the root cause—too many American children live in poverty without consistent access to health care, nutritious food, and books. Looking at testing data, the Economic Policy Institute emphasized, “Because social class inequality is greater in the United States than in any of the countries with which we can reasonably be compared, the relative performance of U.S. adolescents is better than it appears when countries’ national average performance is conventionally compared.” Factoring for poverty, American school children perform as well on standardized tests as anyone else.
Many children—disproportionally children of color—live in book deserts without meaningful access to books in their schools or communities. Differential book access affects the level of education children attain, which has long-term consequences for their health, productivity, and quality of life. The plight of rural and urban book deserts must be addressed before we see significant growth in American school children’s performance on standardized tests. Instead of spending money on things that don’t work, why don’t we spend it on books and do everything we can to get these books into kids’ hands?
Even in middle-income communities, we create book deserts for too many children through misguided efforts that level, limit, control, and define when and where and what children will read. We test and test kids while providing few opportunities to improve their reading skills in the only way that works—lots of successful, engaging reading experiences. This man-made desertification ensures that fewer children will read well or become engaged readers each year.
Instead of fostering the reading lives of children, we hold test prep rallies and advertise test score rankings on realtors’ websites. We create educational systems that value the worst teaching methods and complain that kids lack grit and stamina. They wouldn’t need so much grit and stamina if kids ate breakfast, if kids had healthcare, if schools weren’t so mindlessly boring and insensitive to children’s emotional, physical and intellectual well being. Last year at a workshop I attended, teacher and author Kristine Mraz remarked, “Schools need to stop being places designed for the sanity of adults and become places designed for the care and well-being of children.” Places where our children’s voices and interests matter. Places that provide enriching and humane educational experiences. Places where kids’ reading lives are more important than their reading scores.
Enough is enough. Blame politicians and education reformers if you must for the role they have played in perpetuating the high-stakes testing juggernaut, but politicians aren’t passing out test prep work packets in our classrooms every day. They aren’t celebrating their children’s test scores on Facebook. They aren’t preventing children from reading certain books or forcing children to take tests after every book they read. Fearful of how children’s poor test performances might make us look as educators or parents, we have become participants in a system that harms children every day.
The best way to improve children’s reading test scores? Provide access to books, encourage free choice, give children time to read, and actively support their reading development at school and home. No test prep packet or computer program can ever replace what high-volume, high-interest reading, and strong reading communities already do.
Emma is currently reading Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse by Tamara Will Wissinger, illustrated by Matthew Cordell. There’s no way to measure how much she has laughed, how much she has connected to the characters, how much it has expanded her love for reading and her appreciation for poetry. While her school cares about her test scores, we will take care of her reading life, which we hope lasts her long after formal schooling ends.
**I know there are great schools with literacy-minded principals, full-time degreed librarians, vibrant reading cultures, and lots of teacher and student empowerment. I see them often in my travels, but not enough. I wish every child attended schools like these. We will never have educational equity until they do.
Donalyn Miller has taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grade English and Social Studies in Northeast Texas. She is the author of two books about encouraging students to read, The Book Whisperer (Jossey-Bass, 2009) and Reading in the Wild (Jossey-Bass, 2013). Donalyn co-hosts the monthly Twitter chat, #titletalk (with Nerdy Book Club co-founder, Colby Sharp). Donalyn launched the annual Twitter summer and holiday reading initiative, #bookaday. You can find her on Twitter at @donalynbooks or under a pile of books somewhere, happily reading.
Nerdy Book Club 
Preach it sister! As a middle school ELL teacher, I am often saddened by the attitude of many of my students and their parents toward reading. I have students ask if they can read a book that’s not at their level – YES! They worry that they’re not taking enough tests. We write more than we take tests, which freaks a lot of families out. Although, I have some who almost cry when I let them write fan fiction after reading a book and don’t insist they take a test. I have over 1,000 books in my classroom because we don’t have a real library or librarian. I’ve had parents ask – “Why so many books?” Sigh…
Ahhh!! I’m an ELL teacher as well. There are so few of us using Dr Krashen’s FVR or extensive reading. Can we be best-friends please? 🙂
One word: AMEN!!
If only this could happen. I would go back to the classroom and teach again.
Thank you Donalyn! I’m retired but wish I could do more to promote reading. I have a similar experience with my granddaughter and her teacher. Very frustrating. Thank you for expressing how I feel.
You can, Pat! Volunteer in your granddaughter’s school. Be the woman in the library talking to the kids and reading their books. Help at book fairs. Offer to do read alouds in her class or in the library. Don’t give up. There are kids who would love to sit and talk about a book with you. Organize a book club for them. I wish you lived in my town. Good luck.
My heart is breaking for your sweet Emma and the other children in her classroom. I tell my pre-service teachers every day: Best PRACTICE is best test practice. We get to be better readers by reading and better writer by writing. And through quality conversations and feedback. Not by worksheets, computer programs with soothing names like “Study Island,” or through any published reading curriculum. Imagine the money schools could save by not buying kits and packages and instead spending that money on real books and a literacy coach who could impact the instruction of all teachers. Sending love.
I am happy to hear of the philosophy you share with pre-service teachers: Best PRACTICE is the best test practice! In the words of my generation: “Right on!”
Donalyn — I understand your frustration. I grind my teeth when I hear some of the things my granddaughters experience in 2nd and 4th grade. Keep advocating — and we will, too!
Donalyn,
I have read your two books, many of your posts, and was hoping to hear you recently in Boston. I agree with your post and feel saddened that there are still classrooms that don’t have daily read alouds and reading time!
Kudos to you for all you do to promote book lovers in every classroom !
I am tired, but I have hope. I hope someone reads this and makes sure someone sends this to Betsy DeVos. Poverty and inequality can’t be battled with vouchers, but better books and reading everywhere.
Thank you for your post about your beautiful Emma. I believe there are many teachers who are terribly misguided, out of fear and pressure. That can be changed! We need to collectively push back.
I feel spoiled because I’ve only taught where reading matters, not testing. So glad YOU are preaching this for those other teachers/schools to ponder and hopefully change.
I think this is one of our world’s most fundamental problems; not just reading itself, but the right for children to do something that they like, purely because they like it and can improve, is something that really should be second nature. Almost all of the schools I know here in England do this, so I had no idea of the issue – why, though, are we doing this, taking reading, taking rights for granted, when, not so far away, others can’t? This really made me think, so thank you for posting!!
Yes, I so agree!
It breaks my heart to hear about classrooms like your granddaughter is in. And frankly, it surprises me. I thought (as a nation) we had moved beyond that. I know teachers’ hands are tied to some extent when it comes to forced testing, but no time to read aloud to students and requiring a parent’s signature on a reading log? These practices (and presumably others that you didn’t mention) are unforgivable and fall squarely at the classroom teacher’s feet. That teacher (and her like-minded counterparts) have two viable options: study – and follow – the research on how to create lifelong readers, or LEAVE THE TEACHING PROFESSION. Amen.
This is so heartbreaking, but also so true. We are at that point in our district where test scores matter more than anything. Those who make the decisions don’t care about that which is not measurable; nor do they read themselves. Luckily, our school board is wonderful. I’m hoping for changes! See you at Nerd Camp!!
“While her school cares about her test scores, we will take care of her reading life, which we hope lasts her long after formal schooling ends.” Love this line–and thank you.
Thank you for sharing this very personal story with us. It’s both heartbreaking and all-too-common.
I visit many schools, both public and private, and I always get their “book vibe” within fifteen minutes inside the building. You are right to point out that reading scores and reading LIFE are often two very distinct and separate things. In the end, I believe it all comes down to the lucky kids who have true book-lovers as librarians and teachers–adults who, even if the administration is force feeding them a test-focused curriculum, are making books accessible to kids and modeling a reading LIFE for them anyway.
Donalyn, I so wish I could give a copy of this article to everyone, everyone, everyone.
Thank you, Cassie. I am heartsick over what I see going on in so many schools. It has to stop.
Totally agree! Want to shout it from roof tops!
Donalyn, thank you for artfully articulating what so many of us are feeling right now! Thank you, too, for being a light in the darkness – not just for your own children and grandchildren, but for kids and educators everywhere. Think how bright our light will be if we beacons can all stand together.
Thank you so very much for your wise words! After being in the school system for 16 years I find myself amazed that no one has sued the school system for child abuse (sitting too long and too much overall time spent on taking tests) and for emotional abuse! I have heard toooo many teachers tell kids that if they don’t pass this or that test they will not move on … it is a LIE! School systems would never allow the data of holding a child back to exist that easily! It is genuinely criminal what our schools do to our children.
This is so important and true.
Thank you for these sage words Donalyn. So much that is happening in our education system today leaves me feeling angry and powerless to change things. As a children’s writer it breaks my heart to hear a child say her teacher has no time to read aloud to her class. We must keep fighting for what we know is right.
If only your sweet Emma could be a third grader in Franki’s classroom. The positive light is that she has you as her Mimi.
I agree with all you said. The money spent on reading programs and data collection goes to corporations instead of to teachers and books.
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When I taught 4th grade reading books aloud to my class was our favorite part of the day. We’d laugh and cry together and my students would go on to find more books by those authors.
I’m appalled that I keep hearing that there’s no time for that sort of mutual discovery and joy any more!
I immediately shared your article with my administrator upon reading it. It touched my soul and gave me renewed energy towards righting all that is wrong with peoples’ views of how children are best served.
I agree! However, as teachers were are stuck in this culture with only so much choice. I have actually heard of principals and curriculum directors tell teachers not to teach science to 6th grade students because it is not tested at 6th grade. Social Studies is tested and they need to practice for that test.
I taught for many years and still work in schools and recognize the pressure and lack of autonomy is real. What can we do about it? Not make it worse by threatening kids will failure or removing everything enjoyable from our classrooms.
This is spot on. It’s my first year. I know that test prep isn’t the way. Yet I’m required to over test my kids (I’m talking a “practice” state test every month). We read and write and love books everyday, but the pressure to test prep is unreal. Especially knowing that my evaluations are 50% based on a state test. I’m fighting the good fight as best I can.
Your thoughts are right on! We have a lot of children of poverry in our school and district. We are following Learning Focused, a program said to help children of poverty score better, I mean retain knowledge. 🙂 But books are still scarce….no money…..told to just teach with excerpts from novels. Everything you say is spot on!!! Thank you so much for having the guts to publish it!!!! We can lose our jobs if we say anythung negative online.
Since I’m not in my own classroom these days, I feel a responsibility to speak up for colleagues and kids who can’t.
I got teary 2 weeks ago when I rolled up my word wall because state testing was beginning and rooms had to be stripped of curriculum/content materials.
We worked hard on our word wall this year-as a class we decided the back ground would be graphic novel like action words (think Bateman-POW! BAM!) because learning, really learning these words and using them gives us super powers. Why are we stripped of our super powers before state testing? My students asked……frankly I have no answers-I just hope when they come up against the joker they remember their words because they earned them and they deserve to use them!
Thanks for saying this in such a compelling way. I work in a school with 90% free/reduced lunch with a very high ELL population. I just administered three online assessments in five days to my 5th graders last week before spring break. Two were our quarterly “division level” assessments that measure achievement a la our state assessments. The other was our grade level post unit of study assessment in math, that also looks a lot like our state assessments. Yikes. Each took up two hours during our reading and writing workshops. We have testing fatigue and our identities as readers and writers are suffering. I am determined to keep read-aloud time sacred!
My book-loving boy was having the love of learning squashed out of him in school. I teach him at home now, and he’s thriving. We found a private school that only uses real books, no excerpted textbooks, for the younger kid (Charlotte Mason method), but we’re fortunate that we can afford to send him there. All children deserve to be surrounded by books they love. All children deserve an education that is personally meaningful.
The problem is that your solution is a long term one. The reading gains by teaching reading the right way will not take place this week, this month or maybe even this year. Teachers and schools are under intense pressure to show gains NOW so they resort to squeezing that extra 2% out of a child that can come from teaching to the test. So to say this is not a politician problem is misstating the problem. Schools aren’t given 2-3 years to show a program is successful. One year of bad scores leads to state takeover and a new regime in place.
Until politicians stop basing funding, salaries, and job retention on test scores teachers will continue to seek out the easy, quick fix.
I taught for many years and I understand the struggle is real. Recognizing that our professional expertise and the intellectual lives of children are at stake, what should we be doing right now to stop this madness? We can’t just accept it.
As Todd Y’s comment stated, a big part of the lack of “real” reading in our classrooms is our obsession with test scores. The testing and Common Core standards are quite simply, a money making machine. They serve no purpose, other than making the testing companies rich. They certainly don’t help improve educational opportunities for children living in poverty. In many cases these tests are written at a much higher academic level to ensure a large percentage of students fail. Politicians in charge, whether Democrats or Republicans, want our public schools to fail. Whether the motive is to eliminate teacher unions, fund charters and vouchers or simply gain dollars from the very elite rich who fund their campaigns – our elected officials either don’t care about public education or are ignorant of the facts. As long as schools and teachers live in fear of poor test scores, our classrooms will continue to lose valuable instructional time and we will continue to look for programs to improve our test scores. So, what can we (parents & teachers) do to stop this madness? Get involved and go to school board meetings, run for school board and support teachers who use best practice. Find other like-minded individuals and work together. Tell your elected officials you don’t want test scores tied to teachers’ evaluations. Don’t support superintendents that require teachers do monthly or weekly test practice. Opt your children out of any testing. If you are a teacher get involved in your union and work to support best teaching practice and the elimination of teacher evaluations that are tied to test scores. Most of all make sure you vote. Local elections matter the most when it comes to education policy. I am fortunate to work in a Title I school district that has over 80% opt out rate. We also have a school board that respects teachers and works for the best outcome for the students in our community. I am never expected to do test prep. My fifth graders read every day, enjoy book clubs and read alouds. There was a time when our district got caught up in the test prep frenzy, but somewhere along the way our administration realized that it was not in the best interest of our students. We cannot just sit back and wait for someone else to solve this problem. It’s up to us – teachers and parents.
Thank you for your passionate and informed response.
Parents and teachers must educate themselves. Parents have the right to refuse these tests.
http://www.fairtest.org/get-involved/opting-out
I’m going to reprint this and give it to the Groton Town Council and Governor Dannel Malloy of Connecticut who expect the Groton Public Schools system to take a 5.2 MILLION cut t our budget.
I just finished your blog after a morning of testing. I wish the people that hold the purse strings and make the decisions for educators would read and take to heart your message. Sigh….
Yes! Yes! A 1000 times YES!
Excellent, absolutely excellent. Thank you so much for your strong voice.
I recommend “The Book Whisperer” to every teacher I meet. Every word resonated with me. I will add this article to my list of must reads. Please keep sharing your message. The best part of my teaching day is when I read a chapter book to my class, or talk to them about the book they are reading.
Every word you write is so true. You know it, I know it, and my administration knows it. But nothing changes because in the short run, they believe handing the student a book to enjoy is not going to pass the test. However, 1 hr. a day of test prep might. They would rather sacrifice the child’s possible love of reading over the possibility of passing the test. Sad and wrong. We are all reduced to numbers and reading is only a means to a test score. Fortunately, for my students I don’t believe that and in my room it is the reading zone! Books are magical and tests are not. Thank you for this article and your insight. I shared it with my staff at school.
Absolutely fantastic post. I couldn’t possibly love it more. I teach 4th grade ELA in Upstate NY and am required (read: forced) to use the ENGAGE NY Modules as my sole curriculum. It’s so sad! Literature has been stripped from the classroom. I use an independent reading blog with my students, sneak in book raffles and book tastings, and read aloud every day to foster a reading community in my classroom. My students crave more time with books. It just shouldn’t be this way. I wish I thought the people making decisions in my district would read this.
Reading this made me feel as if my journey across a never ending desert was over and I was being handed an ice cold glass of water! I just know I would love Miss Emma and I am so thrilled she has a grandma like you! As you rightly pointed out, you are her fellow adventurer, carefully collaborating with her in active learning. So many children, even those with access to books at home, have no one there to explore the world or spend time with them exclusively. I was as lucky as Emma to have a mom, dad, three grandparents and countless others (including my teachers) willing to take my hand and show me little miracles almost every day. I had a roof over my head and food in my belly. I was lucky.
I had many teachers who weren’t as driven by test scores because their jobs hung in the balance. There were passionate readers among them. They were able to teach what they loved without having to sneak around test packets like an anti-establishment crook. I had a certified librarian who knew what to do when I had a book crisis (no more books in a series or by a favorite author).
Sure, I filled out my share of worksheets, and completed some pointless assignments. But the focus was on learning, thankfully with plenty of rich opportunities.
As we endure throughout this pathetic “testing window”, let us as all be mindful of the stress this causes ourselves and our students. Let us show or kids in add many ways possible that they are more than a test. Let us lift our voices via pen, phone calls and social media to buck the political powers that be.
Finally, and most importantly, let’s engage in a little “subversive teaching”. I believe Leo Buscaglia gave me permission to do so in 1974 as he described complying with the frivolous curriculum he was required to teach and then returning to a much richer lesson for his students.
We need to give ourselves permission to teach. To follow great leaders in the field. To reject the notion that the goal is a higher test score; we despair when it’s not reached or rub our greedy little hands together when the line on the graph goes up. Let us ever be mindful that children find the joy and purpose in reading by watching us love it ourselves.
Wholehearted agreement from this teacher/librarian! We embraced the Book Whisperer program 6 years ago and started building a great reading community in our classes (beginning 8th grade and trickling up). However, every year, and for each new principal in our high school, we have had to defend and fight to keep reading time/choice in the classroom. It amazes me how much pressure comes from above and is placed on everyone below to produce better test scores. Where is the learning? Why are we creating students who equate reading as a chore or assignment? Nothing does my heart more good than seeing a student’s eyes light up when they find a great book to read, or describe something they read that excited their imagination – even teenagers! Thank you, Donalyn for continuing to speak up for students reading and choices.
Thank you for continuing to advocate for children and their reading lives!
Thank you for talking about the many ways schools and the corporate educational empire can erode the love of reading and learning. When kids don’t love school, the answer shouldn’t be a quick round of “Not I”. I am so happy about the choice reading momentum and the slow tide of change about book access. Your voice has been so important in the effort to turn the ship. Thanks for continuing to speak out! It reminds me to think more about access and choice in all my different community roles.
I am glad you see a difference in attitudes about fostering a love of reading, and our shared responsibilities to children and their reading lives.
I always retell your reassuring phone call to when I was nervous about abandoning test prep with teachers who continue to place focus on test preparation. Nine years ago, my instructional gears shifted to choice, time, and access to books.I have never looked back and continue to stand on my soapbox. The students were happier, I was happier and our test scores soared across the curriculum. When you know better, you should do better.
My 6th grade daughter is going through a similar experience. She grew up surrounded and immersed in literacy and always had a book in her hand, but her love of inquiry and making connections to the characters in the story are becoming few. The teacher at her school, I’m sure with good intentions, is doing a novel study. The only problem is that the teacher seems to be the only one enthralled with the book. My daughter says it’s brutally painful to go to class everyday because the teacher reads aloud three or four sentences from the book and the students are bombarded with analysis questions. My daughter asked me what the purpose was in the teacher asking so many analysis questions after every few sentence of the book. She hates the class and hates the book. “Why can’t she just read the book and let us enjoy it? Why do we have to answer ten questions and stop after every few sentences, is this reading?”, she asks. It’s sad to me how some teachers are so focused on their own agenda, or what they have done year after year that they don’t even recognize the disengagement in their students. In this case, rather than promote the joy of reading, the teacher is taking away the pleasure of getting lost in a book.
Such a good read! Students need high volume of high interest books. This is exactly what I needed to read today. Thank you!
Thank you so much for encouraging me to remember what’s really important for my students.
Absolutely love this! It is sadly so true in most classrooms these days. Thank you for this and the book recommendation too!
Agreed. I taught in Texas for twenty four years and I purposely bucked the test prep to encourage my students to read. I talked to many young and old teachers giving them ideas on how to give commercials for reading, how to fill their book shelves with books and to read to their kiddos daily. My husband and I read to our children through high school! Test taking in Texas has so many teachers and students and parents scared. It’s shameful. At the very least read to the kids everyday before lunch and save a science experiment for them at 2 pm! They would have something to look forward to each 1/2 day. It’s not hard to figure out with following the curriculum, teaching a novel instead of the basal and lots of science and social studies your students won’t hate their class time. Students love the non-fiction and there are reading skills you can point out in the non-fiction books that help answer why your experiment turned out the way it did! The kids get another book read to them or better yet get six copies and let groups read it together! I loved my job despite the test. Be strong and work for the kids!
You have such a way with words and always say exactly what I am thinking!